Daddy/Daughter Dance 2010

Our first Daddy/Daughter dance was this past Saturday night.
While we have talked about going to one in the past, but just haven't
done it. Now that Sophia is old enough, we thought it was the right time.

It was fun getting ready. I wore slacks and a jacket. Olivia wore a long, navy
blue velvet dress with new black patent leather Mary Janes (with a bit of a heel).
Carol bought Sophia this beautiful light blue satin dress, and she, too, wore
black patent leather shoes.

We had gone to the 5-6:30 service. With the dance starting at 7, that left us
almost no time to grab a bite to eat. We rushed to Chick-fil-A (the girls had been
craving it for weeks) and ate a quick dinner. While we were there, we noticed about
3 other Daddy/Daughter couples doing the same thing we were doing.

Time for the dance. We walked in and it was very cool to see how many Dads
had showed up with their daughters. Keep in mind this was the second night
for this event. Apparently, the Friday night dance was just about as full.

The first order of business was to wait in line to have our pictures professionally taken.
As there was a big turn out, this ended up being quite a long line. Fortunately, it moved
quickly. The first pose was all 3 of us. I on my knees, and the girls on either side. Then
the plan was to have me pose with 1 girl, then the other. After the first pose, I made a
rookie mistake and asked who was going to pose with me alone first. Predictably, they both
said "ME!" What a freakin moron to open myself up for that! Fortunately, Olivia took the high
road and let Sophia go first (without incident!) I was so proud of her.

Next, we scoped out the dance floor. Little bit of background here. I HATE to dance (just ask Carol). Olivia LOVES to dance. I thought, "Crap, I'll be on that damn dance floor all night". BUT, after eyeing the dance floor, Olivia and Sophia see the snack tables. Well, the tables had all kinds
of great looking sweets. Brownie bites with Marshmallows on top, pizza from iFratelli (great pizza), mini eclairs, pink lemonade, fancy water with cherries and something else in it, and more stuff I never even paid attention to. That was all it took for Sophia. She wanted to eat. Keep in mind we had just eaten. No matter, she had a couple cups of lemonade, some of the brownie bites, and whatever else she grabbed when I was helping Olivia.

After a snack, I thought for sure it was time to dance. Nope. Olivia wanted to go do the crafts they had in the hallway. Sophia was totally on board. So we traverse the dance floor and head to the craft tables. Oh, by the way, they started playing Michael Jackson as we were walking out, but that didn't even make Olivia pause (she loves Michael Jackson).

We do crafts. My hands are crusted in paste from the get-go. They really had fun making book marks, greeting cards, and necklaces. Finally, I talk them in to going back to the dance floor. That's right: I talked them into it...what on earth was I thinking?

We get back to the dance floor and I ask if they want to dance. Sophia eagerly says yes, Olivia hesitantly agrees. At that moment Sophia holds her hands up for me to hold her. That's right, she wants me to carry her. Of course, as soon as I pick her up, Olivia follows. I am "dancing" with both girls in my arms. Can't last long because they are big girls.

Sophia gets down and wants more drinks and snacks. Olivia wants nothing to do with the dance floor. We spend a bit more time at the snack table and the DJ announces the last song. At this point, Olivia wants to dance...finally. We go out on the dance floor (which is PACKED), and dance for about 3 seconds before Sophia holds her arms up, again! I pick her up, and of course Olivia is wanting the same thing. So for the last dance, I am again carrying them. Halfway through the song, Olivia leans into my ear and says this was the greatest night of her life. Wow. I have to admit, it was one of the greatest nights of my life, too.